The director of Miss Universe Thailand, Nawat Itsaragrisil, apologised on stage on Wednesday after a livestream of him reprimanding contestants — and insulting Miss Mexico — went viral, prompting several delegates to walk out.

“If anyone (was) affected and not comfortable (with what) happened, I’m so sorry,” Nawat said, adding: “I think you must understand that the pressure is a lot. I am a human. Sometimes I cannot control… I had not intend to harm anyone because I respect all of you…”

“I want to (take) this opportunity to… apologise to the delegates… And, also, I’m sorry for (Miss) Universe and around the world too. But I wish all the true message must be the right (one)… Please check everything in our website,” he continued.

The controversy erupted at a pre-pageant ceremony when Nawat publicly told off Mexico’s Fatima Bosch in front of dozens of contestants for failing to post promotional content.

When she objected, he called security and threatened to disqualify those supporting her, after which Bosch left the room and others joined her in solidarity. 

Among those who walked out on Tuesday was reigning Miss Universe Victoria Kjaer Theilvig of Denmark.

Despite the dispute, the Miss Universe activities continued, with contestants attending a welcome event in Bangkok on Wednesday. The new Miss Universe is due to be crowned on November 21.

Hillary Duff has just answered one question fans have been dying to get answers to after Lizzie McGuire was rebooted.

The whole conversation happened while the 38-year-old was sitting on the Jake Shane‘s podcast Therapuss and featured one of the most asked takes, i.e. whether McGuire would end up with Adam Lamberg‘s character Gordo.

According to Duff herself, “I think that there was just disagreements on how far we could take [Lizzie] and where she is, as you know, she would have been when we were filming that 30 or 31.”

“And for me, I was that age and so I just also felt so deeply connected to her as a character because we were the same. And I was like, oh, man, we can’t Mary Tyler Moore her that’s not, I don’t know, it was 2023. You know what I mean?”

“There’s social media and we weren’t I wasn’t trying to have her wake up and do bong rips or anything, but she was a normal 30-year-old, you know? So, there was some things I think they just weren’t like, totally willing to go there.”

The last McGuire release prior to this was in 2003 when the series wrapped up her story via The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and featured her kissing Gordo.

However, the actor does not think they would have ended up together because “I don’t think they had a thing post. I think they had maybe an almost thing post. I know, again, another swing at it that didn’t. But I think that there was a thing with someone else that was just very quick.”

“In my mind, I like to think she had a thing with Ethan Craft finally,” the star concluded by saying.

For those unversed, Craft was Lizzie’s middle school crush played by Clayton Snyder.

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has imposed a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports starting Friday, November 7.

The decision was announced by Transportation Secretary Sean Dufffy as a necessary step to maintain safety, as air traffic controllers are forced to work without their pay which causes widespread chaos and shortages in staff causing major flight delays.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated at a press conference, “We are seeing pressures build in a way that we don’t feel will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world.”

The cuts will be implemented in phases starting with 4% reduction on Friday, November 7, then 5% on Saturday, November 8, and 6% on Sunday, November 9.

It is forecasted that a complete 10% cut will be imposed next week. The move aims to minimize pressure on air traffic controllers on “high volume” airports as the workers will be missing their second paycheck since the shutdown began 36 days ago.

List of Impacted Airports

FAA has not issued a complete list of airports but as reported by CBS News, following airports are more likely to be impacted:

• Anchorage International (ANC)
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
• Boston Logan International (BOS)
• Baltimore/Washington International (BWI)
• Charlotte Douglas International (CLT)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG)
• Dallas Love (DAL)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)
• Denver International (DEN)
• Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW)
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW)
• Newark Liberty International (EWR)
• Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)
• Honolulu International (HNL)
• Houston Hobby (HOU)
• Washington Dulles International (IAD)
• George Bush Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
• Indianapolis International (IND)
• New York John F Kennedy International (JFK)
• Las Vegas Harry Reid International (LAS)
• Los Angeles International (LAX)
• New York LaGuardia (LGA)
• Orlando International (MCO)
• Chicago Midway (MDW)
• Memphis International (MEM)
• Miami International (MIA)
• Minneapolis/St Paul International (MSP)
• Oakland International (OAK)
• Ontario International (ONT)
• Chicago O`Hare International (ORD)
• Portland International (PDX)
• Philadelphia International (PHL)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)
• San Diego International (SAN)
• Louisville International (SDF)
• Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA)
• San Francisco International (SFO)
• Salt Lake City International (SLC)
• Teterboro (TEB)
• Tampa International (TPA)

Airport scrambles, offer refunds

The announcement sent airlines scrambling to adjust their schedules within 36 hours. As notice circulated, airlines announced their strategies to combat the ongoing situation.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby stated that the carrier will spare long-haul international flights and will rather focus on regional flying and non-hub domestic routes.

“United’s long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted by this schedule reduction direction from the FAA. That’s important to maintain the integrity of our network, give impacted customers as many options as possible to resume their trip, and sustain our crew pairing systems,” he stated in a memo.

“Instead, we will focus our schedule reductions on regional flying and domestic mainline flights that do not travel between our hubs,” he added.

The airline also offered refunds for its customers stating “any customer traveling during this period is eligible for a refund if they do not wish to fly – even if their flight isn’t impacted. That includes non-refundable tickets and those customers with basic economy tickets.”

American Airlines stated that it expects the “vast majority” of its customers’ travel to be unaffected.

Southwest Airlines said it was evaluating the impact and would communicate with customers directly, while also urging Congress to “immediately resolve its impasse.”